Meeting with Archbishop | Prime Minister’s speech

PRIME MINISTER’S PRESS OFFICE
MONDAY 8  MARCH 2010

Your Eminence, Excellencies, honorable Members of Congress, ladies and gentlemen, dear compatriots,

It’s an honor to be here, and I’d like to thank the Eminence, the Archbishop of America, for this occasion, and say how honored I am to be with you tonight, with this distinguished group, representatives of the Greek-American community but also many friends among the administration and the Congress.

I would like to say that my personal ties with both the Archdiocese of America and the Greek-American community date from my childhood, when I too was a Greek growing up in the United States.

My university years in the States had an equally formative influence on my life and of course my career.

And I fully came to appreciate the work and the extraordinary contribution, both of the Archdiocese and the Greek diaspora, when I was first appointed as Deputy Foreign Minister and had in my brief the issue of the diaspora.

Your Eminence, knowing how humble you are, allow me publicly to praise the excellent work you have accomplished during your eleven-year tenure as Archbishop in this country. Your significant contribution to American society, to Hellenism, has been acknowledged through so many awards, honors and distinctions, both from the US administrations – I think three successive administrations – as well as governments and churches of Greece and Cyprus, and of course numerous other institutions around the world.

But I’d also like to pay tribute to the dynamic Greek-American community. I see so many friends here, Paul Sarbanes, Andy Athens and many others I could name. So many in the business world, in the intellectual world, the academic world, the political world of the United States.

Your accomplishments are an inspiration to Greeks worldwide, and certainly to Greeks in Greece. You make us proud of your progress, as we of course count on you to bring us your ideas, your inspiration, but also very often the support we need in difficult times.

We look to you as an example of not only carrying the heritage of the past, but creating a new spirit of Hellenism in the other parts of the world, the planet, and certainly in the United States.

And this is why I’d like to say just a few words before I close on the difficult economic conditions prevailing in Greece. As you know, I have been elected only a few months ago and the situation I inherited was a very difficult one, one of the most serious situations, I would say the most serious financial situation, since the Second World War.

So we are focusing on our immediate efforts, which are to confront a huge fiscal problem, one of a high deficit, and of course we have done so first of all by taking very difficult austerity measures, ones that have never been taken before in our recent history.

They are hard, they are painful, but I think they also show the determination not only of my government but also the determination of the Greek people to support the necessary changes, in order to make Greece again a country which is credible, viable economically but also socially just, but also a pioneer in certain new areas, such as the green economy – and I know a number of business people here are very much involved in that area too.

We have a responsibility to bring in our deficit also because this is part of the European rules, the so-called Maastricht Treaty, and we have a responsibility to this Community.

To build a strong and sustainable economy, we need to stimulate growth and increase competitiveness. And as you know – and over the years we have talked about this and His Eminence knows this too; many times I have come to visit him and talk about Greece and our possibilities – you know that Greece, from its culture to its beauty, but also to the spirit of Hellenism which you know very well, has great potential.

It has great potential, but we also have things we must change in order to liberate this potential, to use this potential in a productive way and make Greece a much more competitive economy.

We are ready to make the difficult changes, difficult changes in the administration, difficult changes in the bureaucracy, difficult changes in cutting down the red tape, difficult changes and sometimes even the petty or even larger corruption that sometimes we have seen in the past years.

We don’t like to talk about it; we are not happy to talk about it, but we are very honest to talk about it, because we are determined to make these changes.

We are also determined, in doing so, to make Greece a place for real investment, investment in green technology, in innovation, in renewable energy, in agriculture, in tourism.

I think it’s also important to say, because I have traveled around the world these last few weeks and many people have said, “Well, should we visit Greece, with all these problems?” And I would say well, Greece is now moving into a new era and will very much welcome certainly not only the Greek-Americans but all those who will be thinking of traveling to our country.

And that would be a vote of confidence in the efforts we are making to make these major changes in our country.

We have already launched many initiatives in changing the bureaucracy, in cutting red tape, measures in this direction which will help create a much more viable and competitive economy.

Certainly with your support, I am confident that together we can help Greece restore the credibility, regain the confidence and fulfill its great economic potential.

You all know in this room that we –  Hellenism, Greeks, Greece – have gone through different crises of different types at different times of its history, but we have also been able to go through these crises. And I would say that a crisis very often is an opportunity to come through it in a much stronger position.

That’s what I am determined to do. I am determined to take all the necessary measures, make all the necessary changes, so that this crisis becomes a real opportunity for a new Greece.

In doing so, I count on your support. I am sure it will be there, and I am sure it will be transcending the past and embracing change for a better Greece and a greater prosperity for Hellenism, both in Greece and around the world.

Your Eminence, again thank you for this invitation and I am honored to be here with you tonight. Thank you very much.